Learn From the Best: 100 Homes Sold for Over $15M in 1 Year

Adam Bennett from DR Horton was recognized as the “Top Producer” of the year by the HBA of Metro Orlando last week. What? A home consultant sold over 100 homes for over $15M this past year? Did he not know about how tough it is to sell new homes in this market? I could not help myself and had to know what his secret weapon was. Adam and I spoke about his strategy and his thoughts about selling new homes in Central Florida. Here is what he shared:

When the housing market started to turn in Central Florida the shift was very rapid and the strategies of the past were not going to work. The traffic in the model centers was down and the competing products for sale became very intense.

The biggest challenge lied in addressing the number of low priced distressed properties available to home buyers. Adam quickly identified the importance of understanding the demands of today’s buyer and he reached out to local top performing REALTORS®. His focus was simple; “spending time to understand the need of their clients and offer an alternative”. Because of the way DR Horton has set up their compensation plan Adam sells in all DR Horton communities in Central Florida. He did note that to be a very important competitive advantage.

When speaking to top producing REALTORS® he took the time to show how acquiring a $150,000 new home was a smarter move for a home buyer than a $120,000 distressed resale. By spending time educating agents he worked on having a strong value proposition.

His approach is simple; leverage buyers’ incentives to drive mortgage payment lower and minimize the gap by showing the value of a new home purchase (never lived in and under warranty). He also was able to show the financial incentive that a REALTOR® may have in introducing the idea of a new home purchase versus a resale, many builders have been offering higher compensation than many banks will allow. Even though compensation is not the driver for the sale it certainly helped in motivating the agents to introducing the idea of a new home purchase. He wanted to be their “go to” person when it came to talking about new homes.

He not only offered a product but he also promoted the value of his service; assisting real estate agents in finding which DR Horton new home community would be a good alternative for a home buyer currently working with them.

There is no question that this “focus on REALTORS® to drive traffic” has paid off for Adam and DR Horton.  He estimates that nearly 80% of his clients came from working directly with REALTORS®. I will also say that I was impressed by how personable Adam is and that has certainly a lot to do with his success.

The takeaway from this conversation is quite simple, any builders can leverage this strategy but they need to empower professionals like Adam to go out there and hunt for buyers. By enabling him to sell in all the Central Florida communities in partnership with the dedicated sales person they created a very dynamic environment that generated more sales. 

So congratulations Adam and DR Horton on making it happen and proving that selling is still and always will be about showing value and educating buyers!

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